Floating Christmas

Rio de Janeiro inaugurated the world’s largest floating Christmas tree this week with a crowd of 10,000 spectators and a fireworks show that would have put Disneyland to shame.

That’s right, floating Christmas tree. It floats in Lagoa, a lagoon bordered by some of Rio’s most famous neighborhoods, including Copacabana and Ipanema. And it doesn’t just float in place; it migrates around the lagoon.

It was the Guinness Book of World Records’ world’s largest floating Christmas tree in 1996, too, standing 157 feet tall with 1.5 million light bulbs (although the tree had grown another 100 feet by 1999 when Guinness bestowed the official title).

Bradesco has sponsored all 16 editions of the tree since it first lit up the lagoon in 1996.

It gained mobility and started floating around the lagoon in 2000. 2005 saw the introduction of a Bellagio-style Water Ballet with 48 water-launchers shooting 60 feet into the air and a synchronized light show to commemorate the tree’s 10th anniversary.

Spectacle is in Rio’s DNA, down to the Christmas tree. This is a city that routinely produces mega-shows, from New Year’s and Carnaval to Rock in Rio, the biggest music festival on the planet. When they built a new municipal operations center this year, they did it with the biggest surveillance screen in Latin America.

As the city gears up for Rio+20, World Youth Day, World Cup 2014 and the 2016 Olympic games, you can guarantee the world’s largest floating Christmas tree is only getting bigger.